Rising Tension

"Temari and Orochimaru, step up."

I already knew the outcome of this battle. There was no way Temari could win. Now that it occured to me, I had never really fought her either, but I felt Orochimaru's power that night, and I knew he was unrivaled. I truly did fear him. But that didn't mean I'd obey him.

Orochimaru smiled confidently as Temari frowned. She knew the power of her opponent.

"Alright! Let the Match Begin!"

Temari jumped backward and whipped out her fan. Orochimaru didn't take a step, but was laughing. He licked his lips with that freakishly long tongue of his. Temari knitted her eyebrows and made the first move.

"Wind Element, Sickling Winds!"

She made a sweeping motoin, as winds sliced through the air. But Orochimaru didn't move. The winds went slicing around him as he slowly walked forward.

"Tch!" Temari scowled.

Orochimaru held his hands out. "Hidden Snake Hands!" Snakes shot out of his sleeves and towards Temari. In a flash, Temari was gone. Orochimaru looked up and saw her flying on her fan. She landed just a little ways off. Her fan was a bit more open this time, so you could see two purple dots.

"Second Star!" She swept her fan and more powerful winds blew around him. But this time, he moved out of the way. He slithered across the floor like a snake towards her. Temari was too shocked to move out of the way in time, and he...bit...her.

"That's so gross!" I exclaimed. "What if he had rabies or something?"

"I highly doubt that," Jin sighed at me. "And even if he does have rabies, he wouldn't be so calm like that."

"Shut up, you two and watch," Hinako said angrily. "More than likely, one of us is going to have to fight him later on."

"Well, if it turns out to be me, you can take my place Hinako," I said.

She glared at me just before turning back to look at the fight. "Heh. It's over already?"

I quickly turned away and found Orochimaru wrapped around Temari. He's really flexible. She had dropped her fan, and now he was choking her. Her arms were tied up too. There wasn't anyway for her to escape. She then passed out from lack of oxygen. Orochimaru let her go and she fell to the ground. Shigame walked up. She was about to announce Orochimaru the winner, when he whipped out a knife and began to go towards Temari.

Holy- Is he- He's trying to kill Temari! I've gotta help her! After making sure no one was watching, I formed the seals and held my hand in the air. Come on, Wind Demon, wake her up! Or move her out of the way or something. A great gulf of wind blew forth and was so powerful it made Temari roll across the ground. Orochimaru missed his stab and pulled his kunai back out of the ground. He looked over at my direction. He knows it was me! I tried to look astonished, but it wasn't fooling him. But he didn't do anything. He just smiled at me, mockingly, almost as if to say, 'You think you can save her?'

The Wind Demon, which wasn't visible at the moment, slapped Temari. It was a rude awakening, but she got up and recovered herself. She bit her thumb and placed her hand on the ground, "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" (Summoning jutsu) There was a puff of smoke that revealed what appeared to be a giant panther. It was black with a blue vest and an eyepatch covering its left eye. It was holding a giant reaper and was ready to go. It lept towards Orochimaru and began swinging his weapon at him. Orochimaru dodged and even bit the summon. But meanwhile, Temari was creating a tornado with her fan. It blew around Orochimaru and the panther. Orochimaru frowned and formed some seals with his hand. I didn't recognize them at all. "Second Skin." The Tornado hit Orochimaru and he went flying through the air.

"There's chakra embedded in that Tornado," Hinako said. "There's no way for him to escape. He's gonna be sliced to pieces."

And when the tornado finally died down, Orochimaru fell down to the groun with scratches all over his body. I had a funny feeling. That was a great technique Temari used, but something didn't seem right. Orochimaru stood up. But his face was peeling off. And so was the rest of his body. Eventually he had peeled off an entire skin. He was completely untouched. He smirked and summoned an enourmous, brown, two-headed snake. It ate the panther.

Well,...if I was a giant snake I probably would've done the same thing, I told myself. But what's Temari gonna do now?

Orochimaru jumped on top of one of the Snake's heads, while the snake opened its mouth and charged at Temari. She dodged it so it only got a mouthful of earth. She waved her fan, but the wind didn't seem to affect it at all. The giant snake smacked her with its tail as she went flying and hit one of the walls of the valley. This time, she was really out. There was no way my Wind Demon could wake her up now. Shigame finally declared Orochimaru the winner. His snake disappeared. Shigame glared at him as he walked away. Medical ninjas took Temari away, but I was surprised she got away with that little of injuries.

"Orochimaru doesn't see her as a threat," Hinako answered my question. "He doesn't see a need to kill her. Besides, if he went out of his way to kill her, it would just draw too much attention. The people from this village don't know about Orochimaru, but if he starts killing everyone, they will try to sieze him."

"I guess that makes sense," I thought out loud. "So who's up next?"

"TenTen and Kinuta Pakuno."

"Heh. Pakuno. That's a funny name."

"Don't laugh."

"Why not? He's a bad guy."

"But that's so immature to laugh at someone else's name."

"You should know."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You keep saying that I'm from the Cappuccino Clan."

"Well, you deserved that."

"Wha-!"

...to be continued.